Photographic paper on which enlargements are to be printed must be accurately held in position with respect to the enlarger, and this is ordinarily done by having an easel located in the proper position and providing means for quickly and conveniently inserting successive sheets of photographic paper into position on the easel.
The easel of this invention is a simple and inexpensive easel which holds paper of a single size. It has a plate on which the paper is held and a masking frame that is hinged to the plate. The paper is placed on the plate in contact with a shoulder for limiting the extent to which the paper is pushed into position; and when the masking frame is swung into position to overlie the paper, one side of the masking frame is immediately adjacent to the shoulder.
If the paper curves upwardly, to only a limited degree along the shoulder, the closing of the masking frame will bend the paper at the corner where the shoulder meets the plate, and, in addition to the prints being unsymmetrical on the paper, the print will be injured by the crease along its edge.
This invention provides retaining means at the shoulder toward which the paper is pushed when originally placed on the easel. The retaining means are far enough above the surface of the plate to make it easy to insert the paper under the retaining means and yet have the paper held against the shoulder. When the masking frame is closed into position to hold the paper, the portion of the frame along the shoulder pushes the retaining means downward and makes it impossible for any of the edge portion of the paper at the shoulder to be creased against the shoulder.
The retaining means are preferably wire clips attached to the back of the flange which provides the shoulder, and these wire clips extend through openings in the shoulder but have sufficient resilience to bend when pushed down by the masking frame; and they have sufficient resilience to move back into a spaced position from the plate when the masking frame is again moved to an open position.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will appear or be pointed out as the description proceeds.